In many multi-cell wireless communication systems which include a mobile communication device which can communicate with the network or with other communication devices through the network, such as cellular network communication systems, it may be necessary for the network to quickly access the mobile communication device. When the mobile communication device is actively communicating on the network or registered with the network, the mobile communication device is easily accessible. At other times, however, the network must utilize other means to quickly locate the mobile communication device.
Paging is typically utilized by the network to locate the mobile communication device when there is, for example, an incoming call, a text message or some type of data for the mobile communication device. The mobile communication device is typically paged by the network in a group of cells of the multi-cell communication system. If the mobile communication device is in one of the paged cells, it responds in that cell by sending a page response to the base station of that cell. The network then establishes a traffic channel to connect the incoming call or to send the text message or the data to the mobile communication device.
If, on the other hand, the mobile communication device is not in one of the cells paged, the network does not receive a response and, consequently, pages a larger group of cells. This procedure is continued for two or three cycles and, if there is no response, the network regards the mobile communication device as not locatable and either sends the call to voice mail or keeps the text message or data for later transmission. This procedure, however, has several drawbacks. Paging capacity is a major design consideration for all multi-cell communication systems because paging takes up downlink resources. Therefore, it is always advantageous to try to minimize the number of cells in which a mobile communication device is paged.
Conventional methods for targeted paging utilize less network resources by paging for the mobile communication device in a number of cells determined by either distance or zones. Distance-based targeted paging transmits paging messages for the mobile communication device in all network cells within an area defined by a predetermined radius from a cell in which the network has previously accessed the mobile communication device. Distance-based targeted paging, however, utilizes a large amount of network resources with only a possibility of locating the mobile communication device dependent solely upon how far the mobile communication device has moved since its last contact with the network.
Zone-based targeted paging transmits paging messages for the mobile communication device in network cells within a predetermined group of contiguous cells called a paging zone. Traditionally, paging zones are defined to minimize the area over which a mobile communication device is paged. When a mobile communication device enters the paging zone it indicates to the network that it is in the paging zone and the network pages the mobile communication device only in the cells of that paging zone. While paging zones can provide a large reduction in avoidable paging, paging zones as they are defined today are far from ideal. A mobile communication device user is generally in one of a group of cells a majority of the time and these cells do not necessarily coincide with the paging zone. Different users spend more or less time in different cells and paging zones are insensitive to individual user mobility patterns.
Thus, there is an opportunity to provide a robust and dynamic procedure for construction of more accurate and more reliable paging zones to increase paging efficiency and decrease delays in call setup as well as decrease paging impact on network resources and bandwidth. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the disclosure.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.